Food prices have risen sharply across Europe over the past five years, and the numbers show how unevenly the burden lands on workers who live on the lowest pay. Euronews Business compared food price changes and minimum wage adjustments across 26 European countries, measuring how much food a monthly gross minimum wage could buy in August 2021 and August 2026. The result is a neat little audit of who gets squeezed, who gets a reprieve, and where the arithmetic still favours the supermarket till over the wage packet.
The Price of Eating
Across the EU, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose by 34% between August 2021 and August 2026, according to Eurostat. Hungary recorded the highest rise in the bloc, at 57%, followed by Bulgaria at 54% and Romania at 53%. Cyprus had the lowest increase, at 21%. Among the wider group of 35 European countries, Switzerland recorded the lowest increase, at 5%. Turkey was the outlier, with food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rising by 752% over the same period.
Turkey’s rise reflects years of high inflation, fuelled in part by a sharp fall in the lira, which pushed up the cost of imported goods and inputs. The lira’s decline was partly driven by a series of interest rate cuts that began in 2021, even as inflation rose. Lower rates made the currency less attractive to hold, adding to pressure on its value. Turkey reversed that policy in 2023 and raised rates sharply, but prices continued to rise. Since January 2024, the minimum wage has remained ahead of food prices, leaving workers able to buy more food than they could at the starting point.
Food prices were already rising before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The war added to the pressure by driving up energy, fertiliser and transport costs, as well as disrupting agricultural markets. Those costs fed through to supermarket prices. The same system that treats food as a commodity also passes the bill down the chain, from energy markets to fertiliser costs to the checkout line.
Among the EU’s largest economies, food prices rose by 25% in France, 30% in Italy, 34% in Germany and 35% in Spain between August 2021 and August 2026. The figures are blunt. Bread, milk, fruit, whatever ends up in the basket, all of it costs more.
Wages That Chase Prices
Monthly gross minimum wages also rose over the same period in many European countries with a statutory minimum wage. Hungary recorded the largest increase in the EU, at 93%, while the minimum wage rose by 46% in Germany, 29% in Spain and 20% in France. These changes are measured in local currencies. Turkey recorded the largest increase among the countries compared, at 823% over five years. Minimum wages also more than doubled in Serbia at 103% and Montenegro at 102%.
But the headline wage rises don’t tell the whole story. The comparison measures how much food a monthly gross minimum wage could buy in August 2021 and August 2026, and that gives a clearer picture than simply subtracting food inflation from wage growth. In high-inflation settings, especially Turkey, that shortcut misleads. What matters is buying power, not the decorative percentage on a pay slip.
In three of the 26 countries compared, minimum-wage earners lost purchasing power when measured against food prices. Malta recorded the biggest fall, at 6%. A minimum-wage earner who could buy 100 baskets of food in August 2021 could buy only 94 in August 2026. Spain and France followed, with falls of 5% and 4%, respectively. So even where wages rose, the market still took a bite.
Serbia and Montenegro recorded the largest increases in the amount of food a minimum wage could buy, at 37%. A minimum-wage earner who could buy 100 baskets of food in August 2021 could buy 137 in August 2026. Croatia, Albania, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Lithuania also saw increases of more than 20%. Food purchasing power rose by 10% in Ireland, 9% in Germany, 7% in Greece, 6% in Belgium and the Netherlands, and 3% in Portugal.
The Market Decides, Workers Adapt
The figures don’t describe a humane system. They describe one that keeps people counting baskets while prices move under their feet. In Malta, a worker on the minimum wage can buy about 6% less food with gross pay than five years ago, despite a rise in wages. Minimum-wage workers in Spain and France also lost ground. Elsewhere, pay kept up better, but only just in some cases, and only after five years of price rises that hit the basics first.
Turkey’s case is the most extreme. In Turkey, the minimum wage rose by 823% and food prices by 752%. The difference is 71 percentage points, but the increase in food purchasing power was only 8%. Both wages and food prices rose steeply in lira, with wages rising slightly faster. The numbers are huge. The relief is not.
The comparison also leaves out tax, rent and every other expense that eats into a monthly wage before anyone gets to the shop. That matters. A worker can’t eat percentages, and the market doesn’t care whether the bill lands on groceries, heating or rent. The only thing the system seems to guarantee is that someone, somewhere, will pay more for the same basket.